A world heritage site named in 2000, the Grotto was judged by 3 criteria: The sculptures of the Longmen Grottoes are an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity.

The Longmen Grottoes illustrate the perfection of a long-established art form, which was to play a highly significant role in the cultural evolution of this region of Asia.

The high cultural level and sophisticated society of Tang Dynasty China is encapsulated in the exceptional stone carvings of the Longmen Grottoes.

The grottoes and niches of Longmen contain the largest and most impressive collection of Chinese art of the late Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties (316- 907). These works, entirely devoted to the Buddhist religion, represent the high point of Chinese stone carving.

The museum is located in the center of the city, built in 1958. It is a comprehensive history museum combined with collection, preservation, scientific research and exhibition. It displays various kinds of precious cultural relics, many of which are the essence of the state treasure house of cultural relics, from over 500,000 years ago to the Sui & Tang period.

There are 5 halls arranged chronologically, which starts at first the Stone Age. In Hall 2 for the Shang bronzes and an endearing jade tiger from the Zhou; Hall 4 has some Indian-influenced Wei Statuary, as well as a model farm from a Han Tomb with a sow and her row of piglets; and in Hall 5 you¡¯ll find some comical Tang polychrome figures, including camels and a traveling merchant keeling over under the weight of his pack.

The museum is located on top of Mangshan Hill to the north of Luoyang City. Opened to tourists in 1987, it has 25 typically restored ancient tombs ranging from the Western Han to the Song dynasties. Its floor area is 8,200 square meters. The museum is underground and basically consists of brick-lined vaults with painted mural, carvings and burial items that were discovered when the tombs were excavated. Therefore, it is the only ancient tomb museum in China.

12km east of Luoyang, founded in the year of 68 AD, the White Horse Temple was the first Buddhist temple constructed on Chinese soil. Legend says that the Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han dreamed of a golden figure with the sun and moon behind its head. Two monks sent to search for the origin of the dream reached India and returned riding white horses with two Indian monks in tow, and a bundle of sutras. This temple was built to honor them. Today, Ming and Qing structures stand at the site of the original temple with two stone horses standing on either side of the entrance. Home to a thriving community of monks, including a few Westerners, the White Horse temple is primarily a place of worship rather than a tourist attraction, and over-inquisitive visitors are tactfully but firmly pointed in the right direction.

Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, is known in and outside of China for Shaolin wushu (martial arts). The temple was built in 495, the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Shortly after, according to tradition, Boddhidarma, an Indian monk credited with the founding of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, came to live here, after visiting the emperor in Nanjing, then crossing the Yangtze River on a reed. At Shaolin he sat motionless for nine years facing a wall in a state of illumination. He was the first to practice what is now known as Shaolin martial arts. His limbs had become stiff from the long periods of sitting still and facing the cave wall, and he felt great discomfort. He also noticed that the monks were falling asleep during meditation and that their health was deteriorating, so he invented an exercise of eighteen movements, now known as the Eighteen Routines of Shaolin Martial Arts, imitating the pounce of the tiger, the climb of the monkey, and the jump of the leopard.

About 300 meters west of the Shaolin Temple is the

Forest of Dagobas. In accordance with the Buddhist system, pagodas were built there to keep the remains of the deceased abbots and other eminent monks, and stone table inscribed with the merits and virtues of the dead were erected. It has 231 Dagobas built during the 1,200 years after 791, the eleventh year of the reign (780-805) of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty. The form and size of the pagodas bear the influences of the times and show the ranks of the dead during their lifetimes and the economic situation at the temple. The pagodas vary in appearance and are from one to seven stories high, the highest being 15 meters.